The American Civil War was one of the most intense and divisive conflicts in US history. With its many battles, important figures, and fascinating tidbits of history, it remains a popular topic for discussion today.
If you’re looking to test your knowledge on the subject, why not try our collection of 60+ US Civil War trivia questions and answers?
From interesting facts about generals to details about famous battles, this selection is sure to challenge even the most knowledgeable civil war buff.
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60 US Civil War Trivia Questions And Answers
Between which years was the American Civil War fought?
Answer: 1861 to 1865.
Approximately how many men fought in the war?
Answer: More than 3 million.
What was the main issue that led to the American Civil War?
Answer: Slavery.
Three hundred women dressed up as men so they could join the fighting. True or False?
Answer: True.
What was the name of the Union army during the American Civil War?
Answer: The Army of the Potomac.
What was the name of the Confederate army during the American Civil War?
Answer: The Army of Northern Virginia.
Who was the President of the United States during the American Civil War?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln. He was president from 1861 to 1865, during the American Civil War. He led the Union armies against the southern Confederacy.
Can you list out the border states?
Answer: Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri.
What was the name of the first battle of the American Civil War?
Answer: Battle of Fort Sumter.
What was the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War?
Answer: Battle of Gettysburg.
Who was the first state to secede from the Union?
Answer: South Carolina.
What was the name of the Union general who led the Union army during the American Civil War?
Answer: Ulysses S. Grant.
What was the name of the Confederate general who led the Confederate army during the American Civil War?
Answer: Robert E. Lee.
How many boys under the age of 14 fought for the Union? Was it 15, 200, 2000, or 50,000?
Answer: 2,000.
The highest number of casualties during one battle was nearly 24,000. What was the battle?
Answer: The Battle of Shiloh.
What was the first ironclad warship to engage in the war?
Answer: The CSS Manassas.
The appearance of ironclad warships immediately made all existing wooden warships more useful. True or False?
Answer: False.
Who was the Union general who famously marched to the sea and captured Atlanta during the American Civil War?
Answer: William Tecumseh Sherman.
What was the name of the speech Abraham Lincoln gave during the American Civil War?
Answer: The Gettysburg Address.
How long did it take Abraham Lincoln to deliver his famous Gettysburg Address? Was it 2 minutes, 12 minutes, 15 minutes, or 1.5 hours?
Answer: Under 2 minutes.
What was the name of the Union general who was the first African American to lead a division during the American Civil War?
Answer: Robert Gould Shaw.
What was the name of the Confederate general who was known as “Stonewall”?
Answer: Thomas J. Jackson.
What was the South’s main source of income?
Answer: Cotton.
Which Confederate private survived capture and later undertook a search for Dr. Livingstone?
Answer: Henry Stanley.
Which side was against high tariffs?
Answer: The South.
What Union spy worked as a servant in the Confederate White House?
Answer: Mary Bowser. One of Jefferson Davis’ own slaves, she served an important role in the Union spy ring organized by Elizabeth Van Lew.
True or false: Some Native American tribes were allied with the Confederacy during the Civil War.
Answer: True. Some Native American tribes, such as the Creek and the Choctaw, were slaveholders and found a political and economic commonality with the Confederacy.
What did a bounty paid to new enlistees create large numbers of?
Answer: Bounty jumpers.
What book did Harriet Beecher Stowe write about slavery?
Answer: Uncle Tom’s Cabin.
Approximately how many American Indians fought for the Union? Was it 250, 850, 3500, or 9000?
Answer: 3500.
What was the first major victory for the South?
Answer: First Battle of Bull Run.
African Americans made up what percent of the Union army? Was it 1%, 5%, 10% or 30%?
Answer: African Americans constituted less than 1 percent of the northern population, yet by the war’s end, made up 10 percent of the Union army.
Name the woman who nursed wounded soldiers and founded the American Red Cross.
Answer: Clara Barton, known as “the American Nightingale”.
Twice as many soldiers died from disease than from battle injuries. True or False?
Answer: True.
What type of vessels were The Monitor and The Virginia?
Answer: Ironclad Warships.
Approximately how many African American men enlisted in the Union Army?
Answer: 180,000.
In which year did the motto “In God We Trust” first appear on an American coin?
Answer: 1864.
What Confederate city did David Farragut capture that was the key to the Mississippi?
Answer: New Orleans.
How many times a minute could an American Civil War musket be loaded and fired?
Answer: Three.
What type of pet did General Robert E. Lee keep with him during the Civil War?
Answer: A pet chicken.
What is the period after the Civil War ended called?
Answer: Reconstruction.
What was the name of the Confederate prison camp where thousands of Union soldiers died during the American Civil War?
Answer: Andersonville.
Who was the first African American senator during the American Civil War?
Answer: Hiram Revels.
What was the name of the Union general who was killed at the Battle of Chancellorsville during the American Civil War?
Answer: Joseph Hooker.
Which city in Virginia was the Confederate capital?
Answer: Richmond.
What was the nickname for the Northern Peace Democrats who opposed Lincoln and the War?
Answer: Copperheads.
Who was the president of the Confederate States of America?
Answer: Jefferson Davis.
What was the name of the Union member who famously said “I will fight it out on this line if it takes all summer” during the American Civil War?
Answer: Ulysses S. Grant.
What Confederate general had a wooden leg?
Answer: Richard S. Ewell. He was wounded on May 23, 1863 at the Second Battle of Manassas but returned to duty with a wooden leg.
What was the name of the Confederate general who famously said “War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over” during the American Civil War?
Answer: William T. Sherman.
Which state did not have a battle fought in it during the Civil War?
Answer: Maine.
What was the name of the Union president who preceded Abraham Lincoln?
Answer: James Buchanan.
What was the name of the Confederate general who was known for his use of submarines during the American Civil War?
Answer: Horace Hunley.
What was the name of the battle that was the bloodiest single-day battle in American history?
Answer: Battle of Antietam.
Which American Civil War general later became president of the United States?
Answer: Ulysses S. Grant.
What happened on April 14, 1865, just 5 days after the surrender of Robert E. Lee?
Answer: Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford’s Theatre.
The first African American regiment in the Civil War was the 54th Massachusetts, made famous by what movie?
Answer: Glory (1989).
The Civil War was the first conflict in which _____ communication was extensively used.
Answer: Telegraph.
Where did the Civil War start?
Answer: Fort Sumter in South Carolina’s Charleston Harbor.
What amendment was added to the Constitution after the war that freed slaves?
Answer: The 13th Amendment: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
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